If the Constitutional Court does not allow the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) to extend its contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) - earlier ruled unlawful - there will be "chaos"‚ said counsel for the agency Nazeer Cassim SC.
"There will be chaos... The 2.8-million [recipients] will not get paid‚" Cassim said.
He was responding to Justice Johann Froneman's question on what will happen if the court does not grant the extension of the contract the agency has with CPS.
"You come here giving us no choice that if we don't grant the extension social grants beneficiaries will not be paid‚" said Froneman.
"It seems that Sassa fails to get its affairs in order. You are trying to blackmail this court that if it refuses to grant the extension‚ social grants beneficiaries will not be paid‚" Justice Sisi Kamphephe said.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said Sassa has failed to give the court an explanation on why it had failed to file the application immediately after it realised it was facing problems. "It's like we are being laughed at by Sassa and CPS. There is no explanation we can understand. It's sad."
Sassa is asking the Constitutional Court to extend its contract with CPS by six months insofar as cash payments are concerned.
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